penelope

Supporting environmental, social, economic justice. #SaveAmericanDemocracy

[penelope @tohoton]

Padilla, Durbin, Whitehouse, Colleagues Sound Alarm on Trump Administration Use of Election Crimes Prosecutions to Interfere in Midterm Elections - Senator Alex Padilla https://t.co/28aRZmhbbZ

[Jarrett Holmes | SEO | Digital Marketing @JarrettHolmes]

@ChrisMurphyCT @charise_lee Why the hell is nothing being done??!! We are sick of hearing of his crimes daily for 10 years now AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE.

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

A UAE investor secretly gave Trump $187 million and his top Middle East envoy $31 million. And then Trump gave that investor access to sensitive defense technology that broke decades of national security precedent.

Brazen, open corruption. And we shouldn't pretend it's normal.

[Fozon Capital @FozonCapital]

@BernieSanders It's easy for Jeff Bezos to say this because he knows that he can pay zero taxes by borrowing money against his multi trillion dollar Assets in stocks.

This is how the rich legally avoid taxes while making everyone else pay them.

Don't fall for it.

Tax the rich.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Mr. Bezos: Let's have that debate.

Under my 5% billionaires wealth tax, we'd:

-Give $12K to a working family of 4
-Expand Medicare for dental, vision, hearing
-Guarantee universal childcare
-Raise starting teacher pay to $60K

And you'd still be worth $269 billion after taxes.

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

This is what Jeff Bezos doesn't want you to know: the super-rich have a secret playbook to get away with paying almost nothing in taxes.

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Effective tax rate paid by Jeff Bezos from 2014 to 2018: 0.98%

Effective 2025 federal tax rate paid by Amazon: 1.4%

Typical tax rate paid by the average American: 14.5%

Just thought I should point that out.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

Jeff Bezos just said the bottom half of Americans should pay zero federal income tax.

And honestly? He may have accidentally exposed the entire scam.

Bezos pointed to a nurse in Queens making roughly $75,000 a year and paying around $12,000 in taxes:

“We shouldn’t be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington.”

Think about how insane this system has become.

A nurse working 12-hour shifts is taxed before she even sees her paycheck while billionaires borrow against appreciating assets, exploit loopholes, and sometimes pay lower effective tax rates than school teachers.

The average American is funding an empire they can barely afford to live in.

Wars.
Interest payments.
Corporate subsidies.
Defense contracts.
Lobbyist wish lists.

Meanwhile the person changing bedpans in Queens gets her paycheck carved up like she’s financing Rome before collapse.

The most dangerous thing Bezos said wasn’t about taxes.

It was admitting out loud that the people carrying the country on their backs are getting crushed while the system tells them it’s “normal.”

[PBS News @NewsHour]

The lawsuit calls the government's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is an illegal slush fund that President Donald Trump will use to "finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name." https://t.co/7dMenLXVCL

[PBS News @NewsHour]

Former FBI Director James Comey says he wants to know if he could apply to the Justice Department's $1.7 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund."

"If it's for people who have been targeted for reasons other than the normal standards of the Department of Justice, I'm ready to get in line," he tells @GeoffRBennett.

[roadwarrior @con_vee70]

🤦
Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons https://t.co/huRn0OiWvd

[Mike Murphy @murphymike]

Not sure which infuriates me more, Trump and Hegseth’s limitless stupidity and incompetence or this reckless and dangerous draining of our national ordinance magazine…

Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons https://t.co/CgkCfTmNsC via @NYTimes

[Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse]

Vengeance for SPLC putting the Klan out of business?
https://t.co/RepwGCRNjd

[Cory Booker @CoryBooker]

The DOJ indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that has spent more than half a century fighting the Klan, tracking hate, and defending civil rights.

Let's be clear about what's happening. This administration is using the full weight of federal prosecution to target an organization whose mission is rooting out violent extremism.

This is part and parcel of Trump's assault on free speech, on nonprofits, and on anyone who dares to disagree with him. First it was lawfare against political opponents. Then it was revoking the tax status of universities. Now it's a federal indictment against one of the most historic civil rights organizations in America.

The SPLC has saved lives. It will not be silenced — and neither will we.

[Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance]

A little background on who the Southern Poverty Law Center is and what kind of work they’ve been doing for decades makes it clear that DOJ’s indictment (which is of the center, not of any individuals) is vindictive & malicious, an attack on civil rights work itself. https://t.co/o4qZctrA8V

[Sen. Cory Booker @SenBooker]

The DOJ just indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that has spent more than half a century fighting the Klan, tracking hate, and defending civil rights.

Let's be clear about what's happening. This administration is using the full weight of federal prosecution to target an organization whose mission is rooting out violent extremism.

This is part and parcel of Trump's assault on free speech, on nonprofits, and on anyone who dares to disagree with him. First it was lawfare against political opponents. Then it was revoking the tax status of universities. Now it's a federal indictment against one of the most historic civil rights organizations in America.

The SPLC has saved lives. It will not be silenced — and neither will we.

[Senator Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

By going after the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its attack on civil rights organizations and its defense of white supremacists.

These intimidation tactics won't succeed.

[Mary L Trump @MaryLTrump]

Donald's DOJ is now going after the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization dedicated to taking down white supremacist groups like the KKK. That's how bad it is.

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

To be clear: Trump’s FBI is going after the Southern Poverty Law Center because they infiltrated and exposed the same dangerous right-wing extremist groups that many Trump allies are associated with.

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

ICE has violated almost 100 court orders.

Let me say that another way. 100 times ICE was caught brazenly ignoring the law. 100 times a court told them to immediately stop. And 100 times they ignored the order.

That's an out of control agency that shouldn't get another dime.